March 2014 Blog Posts (130)

In exactly 10 years I see myself working as a special events coordinator. I do not know exactly where I would like to live, but I hope to be somewhere near the water (either the ocean or a lake). I hope to be married with children, and would like to be very involved in our church. I would also like to take frequent mission trips with my church and family, I have a big heart for missions.

My favorite tip would be "what you have matters more than what you lack." I think that sometimes we look at a problem in our world and want to help fix it, but we feel like we do not have what it takes to make an impact. We may think that we don't have the time, money, or knowledge to truly solve the issue. While it is true that it takes many resources to fix many of the world's problems, we should be focusing on the resources that we do have rather than the ones we lack. By looking at the…

This week, I thought about a time when I used Fundly.com to finance a trip that I took to Washington, DC. I was able to host a page that allowed anyone to fund my educational trip. I was able to raise over $1000 which helped me cover travel, food, and lodging costs for the entire trip. More and more people are starting to use these programs that help them achieve their dreams. Anyone is able to view your goal/mission and if they want, they are able to donate to support your cause.…

Bitcoin has become a popular mode of payment on the internet. It is open sourced and therefore does not require any bank or central network. It is less traceable and acts in a similar manner as cash. It is created and managed electronically through the network.

I enjoyed learning about the different resources and websites available for people to help empower and enable women. I wasn't able to fundraise for any of the websites but I was able to spread the word by sharing the link on my social media sites. I shared Global Giving's link for the "Women's Health Book In Tamil For Village Women" fund. Since many of my friends are females I feel as though they can learn a lot of this site and be inspired to continue telling others about the importance of…

I read the article "Women: Victims of conflict or agents of change?" and it covered the ways in which we can empower and enable women to become agents of change in times or crisis or distress. This was the theme and takeaway message from this year’s Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD). The conference emphasized the importance of giving women decision-making authority and leadership roles in addition to support for gender equality…

Although I was unable to give a donation at this time I shared information about Global Giving with many of my Facebook friends and relatives. I personally messaged them with the Global Giving link and urged them to check it out!

For this mission, I chose to focus on the "China’s Peng Liyuan named UNESCO envoy for advancing education of women, girls" article from the WomenWatch News Feed. Although I cannot reach China's First Lady, Peng Liyuan, I found a similar news event that can be added to the story. Just recently, the United State's First Lady, Michelle Obama, visited with Mrs. Liyuan to discuss education of women and girls in China. "Her focus on people-to-people relations, her focus on education and youth…

I think out of all the information provided on the Exhibit, my favorite is "think like a child – children have no limit to their thinking." I believe when one thinks as kid about the limits of an idea, it can be beneficial. Thats not to say that one should think like an toddler, but rather be in the positive state like a kid. For some reason, people are more opt to believe that anything is possible when they are still children. #LEARN1

I would encourage local governments to shut off access to water, forcing people to go out and find water on their own, the way millions of people around the world do everyday. This will increase awareness, ignite a spark and encourage people to get involved in solving the world water crisis.

UNICEF has created a program for smartphone users to help those in need of clean water. The program involves someone going to http://tap.unicefusa.org on their phone and resist the temptation to touch their phone. For every 10 minutes you do not use or touch your phone, you will provide clean water for a child for one day. The longer you go, the more of an impact you have.

In 2020 I will be eating with my friends and family. I love buying foods from farmers markets, so we will be in my home eating fresh foods I picked up earlier that day. I'm not sure what I will call the dish or what it will be because it all depends on what vegetables are in season at the time. Spices and flavor are a must so the dish will be very tasteful.

Ever since I was little my family has been donating canned goods to various organizations. Every fall we buy mass amounts of thanksgiving canned goods to help provide families with everything they need to have a thanksgiving feast of their own, without having to go to Metropolitan Ministries or a shelter.

There is an incredible organization called Feeding America which helps provide food security to those who are insecure. In Tampa, FL about 12% of all homes are food insecure. Over half of their clients who are food insecure have had to choose between paying for utilities of heating their homes, and providing food for their families. Feeding America is a food bank that collects and distribute food to those in need based on the extremity of their situation.

The year 2020 is only six years away from now. Hopefully I will be settled in a career and in a stable relationship if not married or engaged to be. My days will be filled with working on exciting new projects, maybe in event planning or public relations. I will be changing the world every day by the little things I do within my household and philanthropic works. It is easy to make an impact on the world by reusing a water bottle, even just once, or taking shorter showers. Donating food or…

I chose Eric Stowe that I found on poptech.org. "Eric Stowe believes that every child has a right to clean water; to act on that belief, he founded Splash (formerly A Child’s Right), which cleans water for over 200,000 children in schools, orphanages, street shelters, hospitals, and rescue homes in Asia and East Africa." (poptech.org). In America i feel like we take such a precious resource such as clean water for granted and forget that it isn't available to everyone. I started following…

When I think of what innovation is or where it is originated from I think of this: Innovation (often) comes from constraint (If you’ve got very few resources, you’re forced to be very creative in using and reusing them.). I feel like that summed up how I arrive at new solutions or an innovation to solve problems. When you have limited resources you are forced to come up with a new way of doing something and it really pushes your creativity and imagination to the limit.

In 2020, my City will be controlled almost completely wirelessly and disasters will be noted so quickly that the response time from emergency officials will be at least cut in half from what it is today. People will be able to get live feeds of international and national news as well even quicker than we are already used to. Important buildings will be located right next to one another in a main town square for easier community access. Houses will be divided by community preference such as…

It is hard to teach people about a topic that I know so little about myself but I asked a few of my friends to watch some of the informational videos with me and it definitely was interesting to learn about urban resilience in our own backyard and what steps we, as community members, need to be taking now.

I was very excited to learn about this revolutionary technology that will no doubt both save and change lives all over the world. I think that as people continue to utilize the open aspect of the software application, they will develop new and even more innovative ways to use Ushahidi so that ultimately it can probably become the new way to broadcast emergencies internationally.